MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

OPEC agrees 30m bpd supply target; Saudis want oil below 100 dollars per barrel

Riyadh has been pumping 10m bpd to compensate Libya’s losses

OPEC oil producers on Wednesday sealed their first new production limit in three years in a deal that settles a 6-month-old argument over output levels firmly in Saudi Arabia's favour.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed a supply target of 30 million barrels daily, roughly in line with current production. It did not discuss individual national quotas.

The agreement caps output for all 12 OPEC members for the first half of 2012 but will keep supply running near 3-year highs and enough to rebuild lean global inventories.

“We're not going to bypass it, we're going to adhere to it,” said OPEC Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri of the new limit.

Higher supply from OPEC, mostly from Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies, has kept a leash on oil prices as Riyadh seeks to help nurture global growth by keeping fuel costs under control.

When OPEC met in June a proposal from Saudi for higher supplies was rejected, leaving Riyadh and its Gulf allies free to compensate for Libyan output lost to civil war.

Riyadh says it pumped 10 million barrels a day last month, its highest in decades in what delegates said was a demonstration of strength to the rest of OPEC.

Now Saudi must decide whether to cut back to make room for rising Libyan output or keep the taps open to bring oil prices down below 100 dollars a barrel.

Price hawks Iran, Venezuela and Algeria, all of whom already pump at full capacity, failed to get a commitment from Saudi and its fellow Gulf producers to make room for the restoration of Libya's supply

If Libya increases it doesn't necessarily mean Saudi will cut,“ said Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi. ”We don't react to that, we react to market demand,“ he said.

The price hawks want to keep oil prices above 100 dollars a barrel.

”We think the present level is appropriate for producers and consumers,“ Algerian Oil Minister Youcef Yousfi said of prices.

”Prices are reasonable,” said Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi.

Saudi and other Gulf producers would prefer lower prices to help nurture global economic growth. The UAE said recently that $80-100 dollars was preferable.

OPEC's secretariat calculates that 30 million barrels a day from OPEC will meet demand in the first half of the year and build stocks by 650,000 bpd.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) that would lift inventories among industrialised OECD nations from 56 days of OECD demand now to 60 days by the middle of 2012.